Think i zapped my external HDD

Gray

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So anyway i hooked up my external hard drive to my new blu ray player as i had stuff on there, anyhoo.

I plugged the hard drive in, and it powered up no issues, so i placed it down on the glass stand which was next to the television. Didn't have any concerns about it.

Next minute, i heard a slight crackle. Strange i thought. I then figured that perhaps static electricity had somehow hit the hard drive, but it was on glass... Glass isn't a conductor to what the fuck?

Now, its just not working right.

I hook it up, i can hear it and feel it powering up, then about 30seconds later it will light up - Usually it gets done instantly. But not now. Once it lights up, it doesn't do anything though, it doesn't pop up in Windows saying anything.

I'm a bit screwed now, i backed up my stuff to that hard drive before i installed all my new hardware, so its basically shit shit shit.

Hard drive is a Seagate FreeAgent Go 250gb,
 

Tuthmes

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Not sure if you can dismantle the drive and place it into a desktop computer. It could be static electricity, it could be your bluray player, it could just be your external HD just failed. Glass really isnt much of an insulator as far as I know.
 

Gray

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Well i went to Seagate asking them if there was anything that could be done, giving them detailed information.

This is what i got back:

hank you for contacting Seagate Technical Support. Sorry you are having difficulty with your drive, I understand how frustrating that can be. Unfortunately the events you described, tell us the Warranty on your Drive has been voided due to one of the following Reasons :

Commercial use; accident; abuse; neglect; shock; electrostatic discharge; heat or humidity beyond product specifications; improper installation; operation; maintenance or modification; or (b) any misuse contrary to the instructions in the user manual; or (c) loss passwords; or (d) malfunctions caused by other equipment. Our limited warranties are void if a product is returned with removed, damaged or tampered labels or any alterations (including removal of any component or external cover).

What a load of spiel. I didn't once even bring up warranty. Considering i have had the drive 3-4 years anyway it didn't even cross my mind. I pretty much asked them if there was a way to at least get the hard drive working. Lame.
 

caLLous

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Yeah, and they can't even spell "thank". :\

That is shit though, pretty shoddy of them to automatically throw a generic we-think-you-fucked-up-so-we're-not-gonna-do-anything response at you.

I would do what Tuthmes said tbh, take it out of the enclosure and try plugging it into your PC (it's probably SATA 1.5gb/s at a guess, from it's age).
 

Gwadien

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Well i went to Seagate asking them if there was anything that could be done, giving them detailed information.

This is what i got back:



What a load of spiel. I didn't once even bring up warranty. Considering i have had the drive 3-4 years anyway it didn't even cross my mind. I pretty much asked them if there was a way to at least get the hard drive working. Lame.


Haha, I love that, it's like, nothing to do with us /jumps back
 

Gray

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Might consider the opening of the case, but probably going to check other routes first just to be on the safe side, but i was told to try a diagnostic tool from Seagate which is called SeaTools. It is actually a lot more promising for me.

While Windows isn't detecting the external hard drive, SeaTools is. However, the diagnostic tools it has given me aren't getting completed due to failing. Options tested were the Short Drive Self Test and the Long Generic Test. On the Short test, the progress got to about 60% before the fail kicked in, whereas the Long test failed almost immediately.

The error message i got from both tests stated

"Unfortunately, your Seagate product has failed an important diagnostic test, possibly caused by problem sectors which are difficult to read. Now is a good time to make sure that you have a current backup of your important data. If you have not done so already, please consider running the Long Generic test on your external drive. This test has the ability to repair problem sectors that are difficult to read. For more information on this subject, see the Help file topic "Bad Sector Found"."

--------------- SeaTools for Windows v1.2.0.5 ---------------
05/12/2011 23:05:02
Unit Serial: 2GE3JRBW
Unit Model: Seagate FreeAgent Go
Model: ST9250315AS
Serial Number: 5VC2STD7
Firmware Revision: 0002BSM1
Test Unavailable - Test Unavailable 05/12/2011 23:05:02
Short DST - Started 05/12/2011 23:05:23
Short DST - FAIL 05/12/2011 23:06:23
SeaTools Test Code: A9C9D7EA
Long Generic - Started 05/12/2011 23:19:40
Bad LBA: 0 Unable to repair
Long Generic - FAIL 05/12/2011 23:20:23
SeaTools Test Code: A9C9D7DA
Test Unavailable - Test Unavailable 05/12/2011 23:22:01
Identify - Started 05/12/2011 23:22:07
Short DST - Started 05/12/2011 23:24:10
Short DST - FAIL 05/12/2011 23:25:15
SeaTools Test Code: A9C9D7EA

The other advanced tests are warning i could lose all data should i attempt it, so i'm steering clear of that option upto now.
 

caLLous

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The fact that the Seagate tool sees the drive and can test it to some extent makes it look like the interface inside the enclosure is all fine, so taking the drive out and plugging it in probably wouldn't help at all. It wouldn't hurt, it's not like you will void your warranty. ;)
 

Gray

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Well i tried it anyway. Opened up the case and put it into my computer.

The hard drive wasn't detected by the BIOS, but strangely when i checked Device Manager the hard drive is actually listed in there. Nothing in My Computer though.

Ran the diagnostic tool SeaTools again, the SMART test it has passed (This test wasn;t available when it was USB powered) however all the other tests failed in exactly the same place as they did when the hard drive was external. Short test failed at about 70% same as yesterday, the generic tests failed immediately.
 

MYstIC G

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If I remember correctly Kryten is pretty good with this kinda stuff. Might be worth trying to get his attention.

I'd imagine you need to clone the drive with something that is read only.
 

Gray

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The BIOS is now picking up the hard drive, can't do anything with it though. As stated, Device Manager has already picked it up, but My Computer isn't listing the drive.

I went into Computer Management, and the hard drive is present with no drive letter allocated to it. It's showing up as "Disk 1, Unknown, Not Initialized" with 232gb unallocated.

When i try to initialize the test using the MBR it just comes up Data Error.
 

MYstIC G

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Have you tried running one of the disaster recovery linux bootable CD's that are out there on the net?
 

Gray

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I gave up on this last week it seemed like a no-go'er, however i seen a cheap SATA Hard drive docking station for going under £10, so i decided to order it, for future purchases but also for this hard drive, just to see if i could curiosly get it going again.

I then came across a program called TestDisk, it seems to be significantly better than the crap Seagate had, but at the same time, i think the end result may well be the same. It's running a pretty intensive scan at the moment, i started it at 8pm'ish and its now past 1am, but its only 20% of the way through. One thing that concerns me that this isn't going to work is while its scanning, it's coming up like this:

Disk /dev/sdb - 250gb / 232gb CHS 30401 255 63
Analyse cylinder 7240/30400: 23%
Read error at 7240/249/62 (1ba=[generic numbers])

The analyse cylinders is moving up progressively to the 30400 number, and it takes about 2-3 seconds to increase the increment by 1 - Therefor its taking forever. However, the serious (and concerning part) is that the read error section is also increasing at the same rate as the analyse cylinder section, that is increasing in 1 increment as well...

This will be an overnight job no doubt while its scanning, but the instructions for the TestDisk don't give much information as to what happens IF it doesn't work, i'm currently at the section "F" "Press “Y” if the partitions were created under Vista – “N” if not." - The next option (G) states that the structure should be okay... But, it doesn't say if it will say anything but that...

Guess i'll check tomorrow before work.
 

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